Ladders or scaffolding are customarily required for painting walls and ceilings. A particular problem in painting from a ladder is the necessity of carrying the paint and its receptacle up and down the ladder each time that the ladder has to be moved. Furthermore, paint trays and other receptacles used for retaining the paint for roller-type painting are particularly difficult to place on the ladder without danger of tipping or spilling. Moreover, the roller-type trays have limited capacity for storing paint as well as for securing brushes or rollers against accidentally dropping from the ladder when not in use.
In the past, various approaches have been taken to providing releasable holders for paint trays and other paint receptacles on a ladder. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,495,683 to O. C. Broden discloses an attachment for a paint tray which is inserted through a hollow rung of a ladder. U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,911 to J. Riley also requires insertion of attachment bars into spaced hollow rungs of a ladder in supporting a paint tray along one side of a ladder. U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,723 to Hooten includes a paint tray attachment for insertion through a single hollow rung of a ladder together with an external clamping device to clamp the attachment in position. U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,594 to R. Dubis similarly requires a resilient member which can be inserted within the rung of a ladder and expanded into locking engagement with the rung. U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,794 to W. R. Given relates to a work tray which ca be mounted by a shaft extending through a rung of the ladder and which also can be locked in place. U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,394 to R. Schmid provides an article holding tray for paint cans to be supported along one side of a ladder.
Other equipment support devices have been devised which do not require insertion into a hollow rung of the ladder and, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,527,763 to N. Wbytowich is directed to an attachment for a paint can which can be mounted on one side of the ladder without insertion into a rung. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 4,515,242 to P. LaChance discloses an attachment which can be externally mounted on the rung of a ladder to support a paint tray on one side of the ladder. Nevertheless, there is a continuing need for a paint tray ladder-supporting device which can be adjustably but firmly secured to one side of the ladder without insertion into a rung, which can be interchangeably mounted on either side of the ladder and which provides increased capacity for retention of paint while minimizing any danger of paint spillage and which is readily conformable for attachment to different types of ladders, such as, for example, step ladders or extension ladders whether made of wood or metal.